Allegiance
by Naughty Ino
Summary: Temari and her Genin have something they must prove to the Suna. Will the girls pass the Chunin on their first try or will they be made outcasts? Includes the pairing of Temari and Shikamaru plus many others
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** The writer of this story does not own Naruto or any of its characters. All characters in this story not from Naruto are original characters created by the writer, and in no way borrowed or stolen from anyone else, and similarity to persons real or fictional is purely coincidental and entirely unintentional.

**Chapter One**

**Temari's Sisters**

Temari stood there, watching as her Genin sparred, practicing for the upcoming Chunin exams. Four weeks left, and the girls were training harder then ever. All except Miu. Of course, Temari had become rather used to this by now. Though she had only been the girls sensei for a year, she had been raising them as her little sisters for over two. She knew how Miu was, the girl just couldn't stand getting dirty! Usually they used her and her unique jutsu as a distraction for the enemy while the others took this advantage to attack. The strategy worked rather well when they were in a four man cell, but in the exams, that was going to be a different matter. For the first time since they came to Suna, Temari would not be avalible to help. Not to mention, the third exam had always been a one on one fight, with no rules. How was she to rank if she wouldn't physically fight? Temari's concentration was broken by the voice of a small boy.

"T-Temari-Sensei." Temari looked down on a black haired child, Gaara's messenger. He looked a little nervous.

"Yes Yuko?... Well what is it?" Her impatience seemed to fighten the little boy even more.

"Lord Kazekage would like for you to come and see him in his office in one hour." The poor child was now trembling as he spoke to her.

"Well, you tell him for me, that as soon as my girls and I are done, we will be on our way!" Frustration had now completely taken over Temari's voice now. What was Gaara thinking? He wanted these girls to pass as badly as she did. If fact, quite a bit more she'd think, since he could not officially start dating Kanon until they became Chunin. The girls weren't even being allowed to wear Suna headbands until they retained citizenship, which had been held from them as a precaution until they passed their exams. The girls were only given a blank forehead protector to wear for safety on missions.

With tears now swelling in his eyes, Yuko replied. "Lord Kazekage said specifically that you were to come alone. He orders that you escort your Genin home."

By this time, Yuko was practically bawling. Temari couldn't blame him. The child had most likely been told, as much of the village's children had been, that he should stay clear of Temari and her genin. The adults in the village believed that the Tsukino girls were evil and so was Temari for bringing them back with her. To them her genin were "Kabuto's spies", and she had been brain washed by them.

Temari knelt down in front of the boy. She reached over and gently put her hand on his shoulder. The boy stood still, but his facial expression, made Temari think he was hoping to crawl out of his skin. She, feeling bad, softened her own expression as she began to speak.

"Yuko, I am sorry if I frightened you, it was not my intentions to do so. Truth is you have no need to be afraid of us. The girls are not what everyone thinks they are, I am not ..."

Temari's sentence was suddenly cut short by Mia, the oldest af the triplets.

"Mui, get your lazy ass down here and start training now!" Temari heard Kanon, the youngest, Break into a very audible laugh.

"Mia, who the hell do you think you are? I am NOT coming down there! I'm NOT getting dirty!" Just to prove her point, she stuck her tongue out and made a very rude noise at her sister.

"Oh, well, is this any better?" Mia said sarcastically "Get down here now, or I'll come up there with my lovely bucket of red paint, and pour it all over your clean hair and clothes!"

This time Temari had to hold in her own laugh. She had been the one to give the small bucket of red paint to Mia. A way to insure that she could hold a little control over her younger sister. Anyways, older siblings need to have some control over the younger ones. Temari's own younger brothers were the Kazakage and his advisor, yet she still held a small amount of control over them.

"Fine, I'm coming down, but I'm not training ! I don't need it !"

Mui stood up, her raven black hair fell freely onto her back. The violet robes she wore were quite revealing, not only because of the way the hung on her, but the material they were made from was almost see through. She spread her arms and appeared to open what looked like cloth wings. Chakra cloth has been attached from both her sleeves down to her waist. She now closed her eyes and began to concentrate her chakra into those cloth wings. When she opened her eyes, she took a step right of the ledge of the twenty foot cliff. She did not fall, instead, she floated gracefully down to the ground. As she landed she heard her sister's screaming. "Prove it, prove to us all you don't need more training!"

She yelled back to them, "I will!", and started to walk toward Temari.

"Oh, come on," Temari thought to herself, "You can't be fooling yourself to think your tricks will work on me?" Before Temari could ponder her question aloud, she received her answer. The boy she was holding, the one she had forgotten she was holding, was now shaking more violently then he was before.

Mui stopped two feet away from him, holding her hands straight out in front of her body. Tied to both of her wrists were ribbons made of the same chakra cloth as her wings. The one on the right was white, while the one on the left was black. As she approached Yuko, she again began concentrating her chakra, this time into the ribbons. Suddenly they began to spin, creating a visual effect much like a hypnotic wheel while emmiting a low humming sound.

Temari turned her head away from the justu quickly and looked at the boy. He's eyelid where hanging low over his eye's, and seemed as if they were very heavy. His face and blank look made it seem like he had been put into a trance. She heard Mui whisper something inaudible to the boy and felt her hand now being tugged lightly as the child jumped up and down on one foot. She then heard Mui yell "RELEASE!" and the child face went from emptiness to scared instantaneously. He turned in place and ran as fast as he could, probably home to his mother.

"See, I told you, I don't need training! I'm Good!" Now Mia was laughing , but the cockiness in Mui's voice stirred bitterness in Konan.

"Yeah, uh-huh, we see. Bravo!" the sarcasm radiated from Konan's voice. At this Mia began clapping excitably. "You convinced an 8 year old boy, to jump on one leg and run home, which he probably did out of fear anyway! So, yeah BRAVO!" Mia's claps became louder, then suddenly stopped as she began to speak herself.

"Listen Mui, honestly, we're not trying to be mean,"

"Speak for yourself." Kanon whispered.

"It's just," Mia said, ignoring her little sister, "You worked your tricks on a small, young, vulnerable boy. Not a fellow Shinobi, that would never work in a REAL fight!"

"I know, but don't worry, I told you I have a plan!" Mui, now yelling, turned to Temari.

"See what you've done Temari-Sensei? You doubt me, and now they do too!" Mui folded her arms, turning back away from Temari to sulk.

"Well girls," Temari said, " if you are all done fighting like babies, it's time that we go. I need to get you home safely and come all the way back here to see Gaara!"

Kanon's eyes started to sparkle and a smile widened across her face. "Can't we just tag along? We won't be a bother."

"No, he said he wanted to see me alone." The light left Kanon's face as Temari spoke, "But I will send him your affections, when and if I get back here in time to see him. He gave me an hour, but after your sibling rivalry, I only have twenty minutes left!"

"Ok, ok, ok! Let's get going,Temari-Sensei needs to be back here on time!" Kanon was pushing her sisters out the gate as she said this.

"Ooooo, we'd better hurry so Temari-Sensei can get back to tell Gaara-Waara our wittle Kankan lubs him wiff her whole heart!"

"Eeewwww!" Mui screeched, right before she felt Kanon's hand slam into the back of her head.

"OK girls, come on, NOW! Oh, and Mia until my little brother becomes part of you family, please refer to him as Lord Kazekage Gaara-Waarra!"

"Wait," Kanon said with excitement, "Do you know something I don't? Is he going to ask me to marry him?"

"I didn't say that," Temari said laughing, "I only meant, that unless that day ever comes, you girls need to show proper respect!"

A look of disappointment crossed Kanon's face as Mia laughed and said " As long as we can still call her our wittle KanKan, I think we can wait until their possible wedding to call him Gaara-Waara."

Then Mui said "I hope that day never comes. He may be the Kazekage, but I don't know what you see in him! I mean his hair is red!" And at that they all started laughing.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

_**Gaara's Request**_

After dropping the girls off at home and making them promise to let no one but herself in, Temari headed back to meet with Gaara. She hated to leave the girls alone. Truth was, the only place they were safe, was with her.

As she headed toward the Kazekage's office, a full moon hung it the sky. It reminded her of the night, a little over two years ago, that had changed her life for good. On that night Suna had received word that Konaha had made an improbable discovery. They had found the body of Kabuto, hidden a cave in the forest of death.

The body was brought back and examined by the Hokage herself. Tsunade had concluded that Kabuto had died due to the internal fight his body was having with the DNA of Orochimaru, which he had implanted into himself. More or less they had died from extreme exhaustion. They could only guess that the whereabouts of the body had something to do with the upcoming chunin exams being held in Konaha.

The letter also stated that Konaha had decided, due to the fact it was still unknown who or what he may have left behind, that there should be an extensive search done in all the Great Shinobi nations. Konaha would be sending their own ninja to implement the search. They were asking each nation's permission to be on their land and to have that nation provide one of their own Shinobi for each two man Konaha cell to use for the knowledge of their land that the Konaha team would not have. It asked that if the Kazekage approved of this, that a letter of acknowledgment be sent back as quickly as possible so the Konaha team could head out. The team would consist of Shikamaru Nara and Kiba Inuzuka.

Gaara had called both Kankuro and Temari to his office in the middle of the night. He told them of Konaha's discovery and their requests. Hearing this Kankuro jumped in with his own request, he wanted the honor of accompanying Shikamaru and Kiba in their search of the surrounding desert.

"No, my brother, that will be Temari's job. I need you, as my advisor, to put together a group of our most trusted Shinobi to analyze anything they may find and bring back. This will be kept under wraps until it has accomplished and we have destroyed anything that may be used by any wayward souls that might want to finish what Orochimaru started."

Kankuro stood up straight. "Yes Lord Kazekage, I understand!"

"Gaara, " Temari sounded somewhat confused, "Why have you decided it would be best that I cover this mission?"

"Well besides the fact that you know these deserts better than anyone other than Kankuro and myself, who will both be predisposed, I thought this might be a good opportunity for you and Shikamaru Nara to define what your relationship is exactly!"

Temari noticed Kankuro smirking next to her. "I've told you both," she said blushing, "we are just close friends!"

"Too close to be just friends." Gaara stated bluntly. " I will not allow my only sister to have a ' Friend with benefits'. The two of you will define the terms of your relationship before I am forced to do it myself. I can not have people referring to you as the 'Whore of Suna' any longer."

"Who has been referring to me as the 'Whore of Suna'?" Temari asked in shock.

"Besides me?" Kankuro said, holding back his laugh, worried his head might meet with his sister's fan. Instead her foot met his shin.

"Honestly, a lot of people, from both here and Konaha. You are no longer known as 'Temari - the beautiful desert rose, daughter to the Fourth Kazekage, and sister of the Fifth.' You are Temari - the 'Whore of Suna'. I will no longer stand for it, either you two become serious or neither one of you will be going to the others village until you are both married to other people!"

"Yes, Great Lord Kazekage, you will have your answer to where MY relationship is going by the end of the mission!" Temari yelled, as she turned and stormed out of the office.

Three days later, Shikamaru and Kiba arrived. During the time, Temari avoided her youngest brother at all costs, but there was no avoiding the letter delivered to her that day. It told of the Konaha teams arrival and requested her presence in her bother 's office immediately.

She arrived to see Shika and Kiba were already there awaiting her. They went over the mission. The plan was simple. Search the desert for any hideout Orochimaru may have had there. If found, infiltrate and kill anyone who may still be around. Then destroy all experiments and bring back any papers, notes and files in the compound. They were to work together as a team and not as opposing Shinobi. To Temari this sounded a hell of a lot easier then talking to Shika about what her brother had said. She turned and left without saying goodbye to any of them.

Temari headed to her house to pack for the mission, her mind on nothing but Shika. As she approached, she noticed him there, waiting by her door. She wondered how he reached the house first, she had left before him, and he was the Laze. She didn't have much time to think on this when Gaara's words rang through her head. "Fix it or I will", she felt her stomach lurch.

She went up to the door and unlocked it. Shika reached to kiss her and she pulled away, leaving him with a confused look. She walked in and pulled him along, confusing him even more. After he was in, she rushed to shut and relock the door. Shika now stood there, staring at her, looking beyond lost.

"Temari, what the hell was that all about, hu? I mean, I like it rough, but being thrown into a wall and having my arm almost ripped off, is a little more kinky than I'm used to!"

"Sorry, Laze, but that wasn't foreplay. It's just we can't be seen together right now."

"What do you mean by that? Is my face dirty or do I have something huge stuck between my teeth? It can't be that I'm lazy, because you of all people know how un-lazy I can be at the appropriate times!" raising his left eyebrow at her.

" Listen Shikamaru, there is no time to be fooling around, I have something I need to talk to you about. It's gonna be tough for me to say, so stop being a horndog and get serious for a minute please!"

"Wow it must be bad, you haven't called me by Shikamaru in 2 years. Normal I'm just Laze or on a good day Shika. Alright, what's the matter babe?"

"Well it seems Lord Kazekage has a real problem with the fact that his sister has been branded the 'Whore of Suna'. He says that you and I need to 'DEFINE' our relationship or he will do it for us."

Shika sat silently for a moment. "Well," he said finally," We are good friends, we date, and we enjoy each other. So dose he want us to officially announce that we are going steady or would he prefer I ask his permission to court you? I mean either way I have no problem admiting to people that we are an item."

"No, You Laze, it's not that simple, I think he means he wants a ring on my finger, along with the proposal to go with it!"

"I see," he said looking into her eye's,"Well, that is a little troublesome, a wedding is a lot of work, but"

Temari quickly cut him off, "Don't, not now. Really, I don't want either of us to rush into a decision. Let's take sometime to think about it. We'll discuss it after we finish this mission. It's been three months since our last meeting, and I want enjoy my time with you."

"That's what I was saying!" As he pulled her into a deep kiss.

Three hours later, Temari was pushing Shika out of her front door while he was still pulling on his sandals. "Good lord woman, Can I at least get dressed?"

"Sorry, but as I told you, we need to have you checked into the the hotel by curfew, we don't need Garra finding out about what we just did!"

"Ok, I'm going, guess I'll see you tomorrow then." And he walked away.

That night Temari had a hard time falling asleep. She couldn't stop thinking about how beautiful their wedding could be, but was continually remind herself that Shika was only sixteen. She wasn't sure what they should do, but she was sure she didn't want him giving his life up to her yet. There was still so much both of them had to do.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

**Kankuro's Secret Place and Kiba's Little Girl**

As the sun rose, Temari gathered her things and headed to the gate where she was to meet with the team. She had long since given up on sleeping, her mind just wouldn't turn off. She reached the gate and there sat her brother. Though she had grown up with him, she still found it hard to see Kankuro without his makeup and standard black jumpsuit. He looked a bit more husky in normal clothing and she always forgot that his hair was the same color as Gaara's. In fact, he kinda looked like an overgrown carbon copy of their youngest brother, minus the dark circles around the eye's.

"Well hi sis," he said as she approached. Temari knew her brother all too well. When Kankuro greeted someone in such a happy way, it usually meant he had a more serious reason to be there. She hoped he hadn't been sent to remind her of Gaara's ulterior motive for her mission.

"If your here to make sure I remember to deal with Shikamaru, I talked with the Laze last night, and we will make our decision when we return. So you can go tell Lord Kazekage that he will have his answer soon!" She then leaned against a rock and stared into the sky thinking of Shika. He loved to look into the sky for shaped clouds. Oh look, a bunny.

"OK, that's good, I'll let him know, but that's not why I'm here. I have an idea on where this hideout might be!" The tone in his voice reminded Temari of when they were little and he knew something she didn't. She pictured the now grown Kankuro, dancing around and singing, "I know where the hideout is, I know where the hideout is and you don't." She giggled.

"What are you laughing for, this is serious!" Kankuro was now sounding a bit annoyed.

"Umm, nothing, i-it was nothing." Temari replied, " Anyway, so what do you know."

Kankuro said nothing, he just looked at his sister, aggravation written on his face."Oh, come on I won't laugh, I promise!" she told him, now trying to hold it in.

"Uh-huh, well anyway, do you remember that place just west of here where I used to practice?"He asked her.

"You mean the place you took me to scare the shit out of me?" She had only been seven at the time and had had nightmare's for over a year.

"Yep! That would be the place!" Now he was laughing. She didn't find it so funny. He continued "One of the Academy students said that he had gone out there to practice and something weird happened. It seems he seen a hole in the ground, and walked to it. When he got there he seen a set of stairs descending into the ground but was stopped from entering by the sound of clanking wood. I bet you can guess what it was?"

"Yeah, was he attacked?" She asked.

"No just scared," Kankuro replied, "He ran out, none of them even got close enough to touch him. That leads me to believe they were just set up as security to keep people away."

"Well," Temari said. "It would be a good spot for it. It's fairly close to the village and most of the people here don't go near the place, they think it's haunted. At least this explains why, but I thought that jutsu was one of your originals. How did someone else do it?"

" I'm not sure, I've only taught it to a few of the kids who have nosy siblings." He cleared his throat implying why he came up with it in the first place. "But I doubt any of them would..."

He stopped mid sentence, he had just noticed that Shikamaru and Kiba had finally shown up. Both were packed and ready to go. Kankuro greeted them, and departing. As he left, he looked back to his sister and said, "Just check it out, OK?" She nodded to him and turned to walk out of the gate with her comrades.

"Hey, Temari, what was that about?" Kiba asked her from on top of his dog Akamaru.

"Just a little brother watching out for his older sister, nothing more."

As she looked up at him, she was shocked by Akamaru's size. She remember the first time she had seen the dog. He was barely a pup and rode atop Kiba's head .So it had surprised her that at there last meeting that Kiba was the one riding on the dog's back. Now the dog had gotten so big that Kiba was sitting straddled to the top of Akamaru's head. She wondered to herself what he fed the dog, and if the same diet would work for Gaara, he was still so small. It was then that she noticed a small black pup cradled in his arms like a baby.

"Who's that?", she turned to Shika and asked. It took him a minute to realize which 'Who' she was talking about.

"Oh that's Kimika, Kiba has had her for about a year now. It scares me how much he babies her."

"Kiba," she started to say with a giggle in her voice, "Are you trying for a matching black and white set? What the hell do you need with two dogs, isn't Akamaru big enough for you?"

At this, Kiba leaped from Akamaru's head, startling both dogs. As he approached Temari, she noticed that the small dog wore a silver, chain like collar bearing the Hidden Leaves symbol.

"Kimika won't get any bigger then this." Kiba said in a scolding voice, "When she was born, there was something wrong with her. They wanted to put her down, but I couldn't let them. She was the only one to have survived the birth, and she is Akamaru's daughter. I couldn't let her die, so I have raised her from birth. Akamaru's mate refused to feed her because of her problems, so I bottle fed her and he played mommy in every other way. In a way she has become our daughter. Plus her small size is perfect for infiltrating enemy territory."

"I'm very sorry Kiba, I didn't mean to tease. OK, boy's and girl's" Temari said, scratching the little black dog's ear, "We are heading west, we should be there in an hour."

"What's in the west?" Shika asked.

"You'll know in an hour." She Said "Anyway you wouldn't believe me if I told you!" As she walked out in front of the group to lead the way.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

**Place of Unrest**

The sun beat down on them, there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. "This is troublesome." he said, "With this sun, I think we'll all have a case of heat stroke by the time we reach it." He looked up at Akamaru. The dog was breathing heavily and seemed about ready to drop. "Well at least the sun is good for one thing," He was now looking towards the ground, "My shadow is long enough that I can catch anyone within 100 yards of me, as long as I can get them in position, that is."

"Your gonna be fine, Shika, stop over exaggerating." Temari sounded annoyed."I've lived and practiced in these very deserts since I was a child. Do I look dead yet?"

"Well no, but that's my point, your used to this. Kiba, his dog's and I aren't!"

"Now I know why they call people from Konoha soft. I always thought it was because you all have such kind hearts, but really it's just cause your a bunch of babies!" Temari said cracking a smile.

"I really don't find that funny." Kiba chimed in. "if we were soft, we wouldn't be trying to find this hideout now, would we?"

Shika could hear the tension still in Kiba's voice. Kiba was still upset about Temari's comment on his dogs earlier. Temari noticed it to too.

"Hey, I told you I was sorry about the dog. I didn't mean it to come off like that. I was just worried you were starting your own private dog army to take over the world. You know you could with a couple more dogs like Akamaru!"

"No, not really. You know Shika, he'd catch on before the second dog was even potty trained. With as much time as we spend together now, he'd probably know before it was born."

"So," Temari turned toward Shika now," This is who you've been having your secret affair in Konoha with. You have been cheating on me with this boy and his dog, huh?" Temari broke out in laughter and Kiba now seemed confused.

"Look here woman, let's not forget who is known as the 'Whore of Suna' now, huh! If anyone should be worried about anyone cheating, it should be me! Anyways what he meant was, we've been spending a lot of time together since all of our teammates were bitten by the 'Love Bug'. No pun intended on Shino." He looked up at Kiba who was now chuckling to himself.

"Well I knew Ino and Choji came to grips with their feelings for one another, but are you trying to tell me that Hinata admitted her feelings for Naruto, and where in the world did Shino find a girl willing to play with his bugs?" Temari thought she'd planted that last line quite creatively.

Shika had to admit Temari was getting clever with her come back, even if the person she was hitting them with wasn't there. "Well, yes." he said, "Hinata realized that her feelings for Naruto were just platonic admiration, after that Shino found his bug loving girl right next to him!"

"Wow!" Temari said, honestly shocked, "Oh, and we're here!"

Shika stared down into a crater littered with pieces of broken wood. No, it wasn't just wood. He could see carved faces and hands. These things looked a lot like something he was very familiar with. They all looked like pieces of Kankuro's puppets. There was at least fifty damaged and broken puppets lying in the crater. The sight horrified him, though he didn't know why.

"Temari, babe, where did you bring us?" His voice was shaking a little.

"This place is known as the Puppet Cemetery. It is where Suna brings it's puppet's that are beyond repair, and is also used to train puppet masters, like Kankuro. He told me we should check it out, I wasn't sure if I should believe him or not. It could have just been a practical joke. The first time he brought me here I had no idea puppets were used in jutsu. He freaked me out by bringing one alive and tormenting me with it for an hour, so I thought he may have been lying. I see now he wasn't."

"Well how did you come to that deduction?" Kiba asked

"You see that hole in the ground? Well it's not supposed to be there."

"What are we waiting for then, let's get down there." Kiba shouted as if it were a war call.

"Hold on, there is something you two need to know first." Temari said jumping in front of the dog Kiba was riding. "Listen to me carefully. This place has had a jutsu put on it. Kankuro told me a young boy was attacked by one of these. It's a security jutsu made up by Kankuro to keep me out of his room. He left Ant home to keep guard and if I went into his door Ant would catch hold of me and trap me in his iron maiden stomach. I would be locked there until Kankuro returned. Some times for days."

"Yeah, but none of them is big enough to swallow Akamaru." Kiba said, pushing the dog to jump over Temari. Just as Akamaru's feet hit the sand of the crater, ten of the broken puppets stood up. Akamaru barely missed being hit with a gas bomb and he turned back to the ledge where Temari and Shika stood. They landed next to Temari with a thud.

"Maybe next time you'll let me finish before you charge in." Temari retorted. " As I was saying, Ant held me but he's a defensive puppet, most of these are not. They could hold anything inside them,. From poised kunai to gas bombs, as you just saw. If we want to get to that hole, we have to plan a strategy." They both looked at Shika, this was his time to shine.

"I'll need about ten minutes." He said

"How bout we give you five?" Kiba asked.

"What do you mean five? I can't work with five!"

"Well for our sake I hope you can," Kiba yelled, " Because I must have really pissed them off. They're coming this way and are being joined by a number of friends!"

"Sometimes you can be more troublesome then Naruto. Do you know that Kiba?"

"Less talking, more thinking!" Temari yelled, as she ducked to avoid a poisoned kunai.

"Yes, Ma'am." And Shika crouched down into his thinking position. "How can I plan with no clouds to look at?" he wondered to himself as Temari struck the puppet about to jump on him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter five**

**Shikamaru's Perfect Plan**

Shika watched as Temari rolled head over heels into the crater. Landing on her feet, she pulled her fan out and swept in and opened it in one fluid motion. A gust of razor sharp wind rushed over the puppet, splintering wood from its body. The damage it caused, though critical to a human, did little to stop the oncoming wooden man. Realizing her jutsu wasn't going to work, she closed the fan and started swinging it like a club. She made contact with something. There was a sound of old wood cracking, and the puppet split at the waist, it's torso falling to the ground.

Shika stared in shock as a set of wooden legs ran at Temari. The other half still on the ground trying to prop itself upright with it's arms. It may have been a hilarious sight to him, if those legs weren't trying to kill his girlfriend. He had to come up with something fast!

As if reading his mind, Temari screamed, "They're old and break easy, but it's not stopping them. So figure it out, NOW!"

Damn demanding woman, what did she think he was doing, twiddling his thumbs? "Well," Shika thought to himself, "I might as well be." The truth was, he couldn't come up with a thing to do. The last time he was unable to come up with anything, his Sensei had lost his life. He had secretly blamed himself for the death for years and at times had let the pain get the best of him. Now his inability to think may cost him his closet friend and his lover, the pain of that added on to the already existing one would kill him for sure.

No, he couldn't let that happen. He refused to lose anyone close to him today, especially to a bunch of soulless pieces of wood, but what could he do? He had never come up against a puppet master in battle before, let alone possessed puppet's who didn't have one.

He wondered what Asuma would do in this situation. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the all familiar lighter, as was his habit anytime he thought of his Sensei, he began flicking it. He looked up at Temari just as she planted a paper bomb on one of the nearby puppets. The explosion caught it, and two others, on fire. The puppet's movements slowed to crawls as flame's engulfed their dry wooden bodies, finally they came to a halt and fell limply to the ground.

"You do know these things don't stop?" Shika attention suddenly turned to the now yelling Kiba.

"Just look at Akamaru, he's tore that one to pieces, and the splinters are still trying to kill him! Tell me you've got something by now, we won't last much longer!" Kiba sidestepped, just in time to keep himself from being caught up by a net that had just been thrown out of the chest of the puppet he had been battering.

Shika looked back down at the lighter in his hand. "Asuma, help me. Please don't let me lose them too."

He heard another explosion and Temari yelling something about taking out another four. The explosion must have caught more of them on fire. "Wait just a minute," he thought, " That's it, fire! Oh thank you Asuma-Sensei!"

"Hey you guy's, I've got it!" He shouted toward the other two.

"Well, how about you share this wonderful, yet time consuming plan, with the rest of your team." Said Kiba rather sarcastically.

"Fire! We use fire!" Shika yelled sounding quite proud of himself.

"Fire, you said fire, right?" Temari asked jumping up to stand next to Shika.

"Yep!" He answered.

"OK, but last time I checked, none of us have a fire jutsu in our arsenals. Well unless one of you have been holding out on me."

"I haven't." Kiba responded landing on the other side of Shika. "And neither does he." What the hell was Shika thinking?

"Yeah, I know!" Shika said sounding all but a little annoyed with them."Were going to use this!" And he handed a lighter to Kiba.

"Well let me guess, you guy's are going to distract them, while I spend two hours trying to catch them on fire one by one?"

"NO, just listen for a minute!" The annoyance in Shika's voice had now become anger. "Kiba, do you think you could ask Akamaru to stand directly in the middle of that crater?"

"Yeah, of course but why?" He asked, a little confused.

"OK, once he's there, we need to lure all the puppet's to him, smashing them into as many pieces as we can along the way. Akamaru you rip apart as many as you can while standing there, and lets all try to pile them as closely as we can!"

"But you still haven't answered my question? Why?" Kiba insisted.

"So you can start them on fire! While I was watching Temari,she planted a paper bomb on one of these things. The explosion caught a few more on fire and they stopped moving. To be honest I don't know whether it broke the jutsu or just released their infused chakra, but they stopped. So that's how we stop them! Once we have them in Akamaru's shadow and you two are clear of it, I'll posses it, leaving there shadows possessed by me too. Then Kiba, you start the fire and Temari can use her fan to fuel it. Just make sure to blow it away from Akamaru and I. Neither of us want to be hurt!"

"WOOF!" Akamaru barked in agreement.

"Yeah, but why don't we just use paper bombs? Wouldn't it be easier?" Kiba asked.

"First, I'm sure we don't have enough for all of them individually. Second, if we gathered them into the shadow for me to posses, and then scattered the paper, I doubt we would all be out of harms way before the explosion went off. That's still a lot of paper bombs. Understand?"

"Got it." Temari and Kiba replied in unison. "Alright, we got a plan. It's not the best one you've ever had," said Temari smiling," But it's a plan none the less. Let's do it!"

"Well, Akamaru, you heard the man, get to the center of that crater!" Kiba shouted, and Akamaru headed out.

Luring the puppet's to the appropriate place wasn't as hard as they had first thought it would be. All they needed to do was stand in the shadow themselves, letting the puppet's come at them. The bad part was trying to keep them there and get out of the shadow without being followed by any of them. After a couple of attempts, Kiba suggested he and Temari knock off all the heads while Shika piled them up. It worked, though Shika couldn't understand why. It's wasn't like they could see through their eye's, maybe whatever drew them to attack was implanted in there heads. He didn't know, but without their heads the body's seemed to just run into each other, knocking themselves over trying to get to the detached heads. It was perfect, they were literally piling themselves up.

"OK, Shika said, "Time to finish this! Everyone get clear! You ready Akamaru?"

"WOOF!" The giant dog replied.

"Good!" Shika started his hand signs. It only took a moment and he had possession of all his enemy's. It took a bit longer for Kiba to get a fire started under the pile of wooden bodies but finally he seemed to sustain a flame big enough that Temari's fan helped it to grow instead of blowing it out. Once the flames were feeding greedily on the wood, Shika released his jutsu, letting Akamaru escape from the over powering heat.

Temari turned to the group,"Now, let's go see what's down that hole!"

"Hold on Temari." Kiba said putting his arm out to stop her,"The ninja who created this lovely welcoming party for us, maybe waiting just inside there. It's time for Kimika to show you her worth."

Kiba reached down gently and picking up the tiny pup in his arms.

"OK, girl. You know what to do. Stay in the shadows, move slowly, and don't attract attention if anyone is down there. If you don't see anyone bark. If you do get back her as fast as you can and tell me."

"Yipe." replied the little dog, and she licked him on the nose. She looked up at Akamaru, who leaned down to except a lick of his own.

Kiba then placed her back on the ground. "We love you too, just be careful!"

The small dog yipped again and started down the stairs and into the hole.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter six**

**The Last**

It was ten minutes before they heard Kimika's small bark coming from inside. Slowly they started down the stairs. They reached the bottom and walked through a door into a very large room. Inside, stood large tables covered in broken glass and metal objects. Scrolls and file's littered the ground. It looked as if the compound had been abandoned in a rush.

There was only one door, it was positioned directly across from where they had come in. Temari crossed the room towards it. As she approached, a cold chill shot through her body. Something very bad was behind this door, she knew it.

Temari called back to the boys, "Hey guys, you stay here and gather this stuff up. I'm just going to go through here and check it out."

"I think not!" Shika said grabbing her arm. "What makes you think I'd let you go in there alone, stay here and help us, then we can check it out together."

"I'll be fine!" She said pulling out of Shika's grasp. " I'm a better fighter then you and smarter then Kiba. Sorry Kiba!"

"No big deal," Kiba replied "It's the truth."

"Anyways, it's going to be dark soon," Temari continued, "And it will take at least two of us to gather all this to get back before night fall. Which means, one of us, needs to check it out. I'm the most qualified, so I go!"

"Fine, but take Kimika with you." Shika took the dog from Kiba's arms and gave it to Temari. "If you have any trouble, she can run back and let us know, OK?"

"Yeah, I'll agree to that." Temari said putting the dog on the ground. "Ready for a girl's only mission cutie? Let's go."

Temari went through the door, only looking back to make sure the boy's were doing their job and not following her.

The door led into a long dark hallway with walls of stone. She had walked for awhile before coming across the first set of cell doors. Her eye's had finally adjusted to the darkness. She looked in through the bars, but seen nothing and continued on her way. A couple feet away her eye's met with another cell, but this one wasn't as empty. A skeleton was propped against the far wall in a sitting position. It's head hung low against it's chest, looking in the direction of Temari. She strained her eyes to see the village symbol on the headband tied to is skull. She gasped aloud when she seen it was the hour glass of her own village. She tried to recognize the ninja by he's clothing, which had already lead her to believe it was a man, but she didn't remember anyone in her village who wore as much purple as she did.

"Don't worry,' she said to the man who could not hear her, " I'll get Shika to unlock this door and we'll get you back home to your family." She turned to leave, but was stopped in her tracks by the voice of a young girl.

"Please, miss, please help us. My sister's are dying. Please!"

Temari turned back, it seemed the voice had come from the cell at the very end of the hall. Cautiously, she walked back down the hall. Was this a trap? How could anyone have survived this long when her own villager had died of hunger? She carefully looked into the cell. There sat a young girl, of about thirteen, with jet black hair and amazing green eye's. Lying next to her were two other girls who looked to be the same age. One with the same black hair the other with hair as white as snow, and neither looked to be alive. All the girls wore dirty, purple rags and looked to be starving. Seeing Temari, the young girl clumsily crawled across the cold stone floor to the door. Temari bent down and took her hand.

"You poor thing, how did you get here?" She asked the young child. She could feel the tears wailing up in her eyes.

"Orochimaru, took us prisoner, after he killed our clan for defying him. He wanted us to be ninja in his village. He even named the damn place after our abilities and stole our clan's crest to use as it's symbol." The little girl lifted her her sleeve to reveal a tattoo known to Temari only as the Sound village's symbol. It made her shudder.

She turned and look at Kimika, saying only, "You know what to do." The small black dog ran back down the hall toward her owner.

"So, your from the clan with the sound affinity, well I guess it's more of a kekkie genkai then an elemental affinity, I had heard rumors of such a clan, but they died down after Orochimaru's Shinobi started showing up with mechanisms that helped create their jutsu. I guess everyone figured it was just a man made bluff on his part. So you can really use sound?"

"Yeah," the girl replied,"But my sister's are better at using it, I can only dance, but I'm pretty good with medical stuff, that's how I've kept them alive. That and feeding them bug's."

"Guess it was a good thing Shino didn't come!" Said Kiba as he came up from behind Temari. "So I see you're making new friends. Why don't you introduce me to this beautiful young girl."

"Kiba this is, um wait, I haven't gotten your name yet?"

"I-I'm Mia, and those two are my sisters, Mui and Kanon. We are the 'Tsukino Triplets', mysterious keepers of the sound."

"Did I here her correctly?" Shika asked now standing behind Kiba. "Did she just admit she was from the sound?"

"Not that sound," replied Temari, "It's a long story, I don't even know it all, but I'll tell you what I do know on our way back. For now let's just get these girls out of here. Oh and I also need you to unlock that door. There's a skeleton in it that belongs to my village and I want to take him home."

"Ok," Shika said using a shadow to pick the cell lock, "One down, one to go." and he walked to the next cell.

They emerged from the ground carrying the girls and the body now wrapped in a cloth. They placed them onto Akamaru's back, along with all the information gathered from inside the compound. As soon as they were all clear of the hole, Temari pulled her out her fan. Swiping it in a large up and down motion, she yelled "Sand Storm Avalanche". Suddenly sand was lifted from everywhere and was being forced down into the crater from which they had just departed.

Once the last grain had fallen, Temari finished by saying, "There that should do it. It will be hard for anyone to get in there now."

"Let's hope so!" Shika said, "But I still want to know who put up the puppet security alarm. He's gonna be a problem. Anyways let's get you girls home. I'm sure we'll be more then welcome bringing back a dead sand ninja and three live sound ones."

"I told you," Temari said "They're not Orochimaru's ninja!" And they headed off, back toward Suna.

They came through the gates just before nightfall. Temari knew she would have to find a medic she could trust to heal the girls. First stop, Gaara. He'd know who could be trusted, she just had to convince him they weren't harmful.

They met with Gaara in his office. It had been rather easy to convince Gaara about the girls. She couldn't decide if it was because he knew of their clan or if it had something to do with the white haired beauty his eye's had just laid themselves on. She had never seen her younger brother looking so dumbfounded.

Gaara had the girls taken to the hospital, along with the skeleton, in hopes they could find it's true identity. Then the team reported everything they had seen and done to both him and Kankuro, who listened intently. After they finished, he sent his brother to start work on the scrolls and document's they had retrieved from the hide out, and sent Kiba to help. Leaving only himself and the love birds alone in the room.

Gaara used this opportunity to confront them. "Ok Temari, so you promised me an answer upon your return. What is it?"

"With your permission, Lord Kazekage," Shika started, "I would like to ask for your sisters hand in marriage!"

Gaara looked deep into Shikamaru's eye's. Yes, he could see the true love this man held in his heart for his sister. He nodded his agreement.

Shika got down on one knee ,taking Temari by the hand. "Temari, my most beautiful rose, Will you be my bride.

At first Temari was stunned, her heart began to flutter, she so wanted to reply "Yes,yes, I love you and only you!" But she didn't. Instead she simply said "No."

"What?" Shika and Gaara said simultaneously. Both looked as if the shock of the answer almost killed them.

"I can't, not now. First off, Shika, your still too young. We both have things we still need to do before we tie ourselves down. I need to be here for those girls, I know this village will find it hard to accept them. I also want to train at least one squad. So should you. Plus if we were to do this, we would have to pick which village we want to work for, I'm not willing to leave my village at the moment, and I know you feel the same. Maybe...maybe in a couple years."

"Fine!" Shika yelled at her, "Whatever! I'm going home!" and he stomped out of the room slamming the door as he left.

"Well, I didn't expect that." Gaara said in astonishment, " Though you do have some valid points and I support your decision, I just hope you can live with it. Oh and on the subject of the girls and a squad of your own, you will have both within a month. The girls _will_ be your squad. If you can get them to pass the chunin exam that is to be held here in two years time, I will make sure the elders and the villages alike, accept them. I want you to know this is the only way I can give them citizenship, if for any reason they do not pass, I will have to banish them. I'm sure by now you understand why."

"I do," Temari responded, "You can count on me. I won't let those poor girls down, not after all they have been through!" She then turned and walked out the door.

That had been the last time she had seen Shikamaru, she had tried dating other guys, but none could compare to her one true love, and as she brought herself back to the present, she wondered if he felt the same.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

_**Things She Didn't Wish to Hear**_

Gaara was standing at the large office window. The night sky was clear except for the million twinkling stars and the large full moon. As he gazed upon it, remembering the hunger it once brought with it, the hunger which caused him pain. Not a physical pain, but an everlasting mental and emotional one. Back then the hunger craved only blood and the pain enveloped him until he satisfied it. The full moon once meant nothing but death, not to him, but to anyone within his grasp. Whether the pain was caused by the hunger or his own contempt for the death he brought, he was never sure, he only knew he was glad it had gone away long ago. Now the full moon brought a new, stronger, hunger into him. This hunger, not of hate, but of need. The need to be with her.

He remembered the first time he had seen her beauty under a moon like this. He noticed both her hair and eyes were glowing a baby blue color. It was like the moon was showing her pure chakra in a beautiful aura around her statuesque figure. She looked angelic. She was angelic. She... was his angel.

He worked his way into asking her why she was glowing so radiantly, and she replied simply, " I have no idea, it always happens. Maybe the full moon just brings out my best side!" Then she let out a small, harmonious giggle, and grabbed him by the hand to lead him under a nearby tree. At that moment he knew, without a fraction of doubt, she was the one. She would become his wife, and together they would continue his family legacy, but first she had to pass the exam.

He was so lost in thought that he hadn't noticed the sand eye forming in front of him until it had almost completely blocked out his view of the moon. Almost as if to remind him he had more pressing issues at hand. Once it had become solid, he raised his arm, closing his hand around it. Clenching it tightly, the sand became grains once again, showing him the image of his sister entering the doorway below. He knew that in only a few moments, he would have to talk to her as both her Kazekage and her brother. He hated times like this. It was easy to explain situations and give orders as her Kazekage and it had become easier for him to give support and advice as her little brother, but to do both at the same time, almost impossible. It would take suave talent and careful wording. He still hadn't found a way to do both at the same time. Truth was, last time he had messed it up pretty bad, and if he hadn't, maybe he wouldn't have need for this conversation tonight. This was gonna be tricky.

Temari was greeted at the office door by a sand double of her brother. It looked up at a nearby clock and back to her with a disapproving scowl chiseled into it's stone like face. She had seen this look on the real Kazekage's enough to know she may be in for some trouble.

"Just open the damn door, he can't yell at me till I get in there."

At this, the clones face broke into an evil grin. He walked to the door, opening it for her to enter, and followed.

Gaara looked over his shoulder and motioned to his sand self to close the door. He turned around to see his sister looking a bit aggravated.

"What's the matter, sister? I haven't even begun to speak, yet you seem upset with me already?"

"Why don't you ask your little minion over here? He's been scowling at me ever since I entered and he only let me in when I reminded him you couldn't tell me off for my lateness through a closed door."

Gaara now turned toward his clone. As he made the sings to dispatch it, Temari swore the sand brother looked like he wanted to protest.

"I'm sorry for his rudeness, sometimes I don't think he got the memo that the day's of my psychotic rule are over. I don't think he is as entertained by being my doorman."

Temari wasn't sure if her brother was being truthful or just trying to cover his anger. He had become very efficient with human interaction since his change, especially the lying part. She decided to take what she could and just get to the point.

"So brother, what is it that is so important that I must leave my sisters at home alone and vulnerable? You know we are chancing an attack on them by these actions." The blunt tone in her voice was her way of showing her disapproval of what he had asked of her.

"Do not worry, dear sister, the girls are safe. Kankuro was posted to your roof moments after I sent the boy to get you. I may be younger then you, but don't take me as a fool. Of all the people in the world, you should know, I would let no harm come to them."

At these words, shame came over Temari. She would entrust the girls' lives with only two other people besides herself, her brothers. Yes, she knew he would never let anyone hurt them, he had fought just as hard as she to keep them here.

Gaara began to speak again. "Temari, I have to ask you if the girls are ready? There was a meeting with the elders this morning, after we received word of the other villages expected genin. They have decided to add a new rule for the girls. If even one of them does not pass this time through, they are to all be banished from Suna!"

"Though, I think that to be a cowards move," Temari said, "I am sure we will have no problems. The girls are good, real good, and unless one of the villages have a super squad, trained by a genius, the girls will do just fine."

The expression on Gaara's face became very serious, he now gazed into his sisters eye's. Now for the hard part.

"Yes," he said, "And that would be why they changed their minds. There is a team, one that is said to be better even then we were at that age. Their Sensei is one of the smartest humans I've ever met. They are strong, physically and strategically. Among all the team's this year, they are the reason for all the spectators already pouring in for the exams. The elders see them as a loop hole, something to get rid of the girls completely. They feel this squads entering, will cause you and your team to fail."

"Well," Temari replied, " As you know, I'm not the dumbest myself. In fact there is only one person in the world, who has ever outsmarted me. After the first two exams, I'm sure with what the girls learn about the other teams, I will devise a plan for them to come out on top. Anyways, I'm sure there is nothing this super team or their Sensei can do to throw me off my agenda."

Gaara now gently grasped onto his sisters hand. "And there lies the problem." He said, his concern radiating from his now cracking voice.

"There Sensei is the only man who has ever outsmarted you. I'm sorry, I know how much this must hurt you, but his genin are entered this year. The elders know that this will throw you off, that is why they have assigned you and your team to be the squad to meet them and be their welcoming party. Your team will be the liaison for both the Konoha teams. In a week's time, you are to meet with both Kiba Inuzuka's squad and the team lead by..."

"Shikamaru Nara." Temari said, finishing his sentence. She said nothing else as she turned and walked out the door, but once she was back under the night sky, tear's wailed up in her eyes. How was she gonna handle this?


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

_**Enter Team Shika**_

The sun hadn't quite met the horizon as Shika left his house. He was heading to the Konoha training grounds to meet up with his squad. For the last few weeks, his team had been training from dusk till dawn. The chunin exams were only three weeks away and they would be leaving for Suna in the morning. That meant there wasn't much time left for Rock to help him teach Miyako to correctly apply taijustu techniques.

It took only fifteen minutes for him to reach his destination. Two of his genin were already there, awaiting his arrival. He knew from his past experiences with these kids, that the third would be on his way shortly. Nobu insisted that it was only polite to let the girls show up first. Shika doubted that his real reason had anything to do with manners.

As he approached the two female genin, he heard them say in unison, "Nobu's late again!"

"Yes, I expected that much, haven't you girls gotten used to it by now?" Don't worry he'll be here shortly, just go practice that thing Rock was teaching you yesterday." And then he turned, walking over to sit at his usual tree. This was the reason Shika had protested against having two girls in his squad, they were troublesome.

He wasn't worried about his team though, he knew even if Miyako didn't finish learning Rock's techniques, her strategy skills would let her surpass any genin to come up against her. She was a Nara, his younger cousin in fact. She had short hair, the same color as his, but her figure reminded him of Ino, and her eyes were the same sky blue as Naruto's. She was very popular with the boy's of the village. Her father, his uncle, had warned him to keep his little girls mind on being a ninja, and off of boy's. His own father told him to keep the boy's off of her. So, he guessed more or less, his family didn't see Shikamaru as her Sensei, but as a built in babysitter. He found it both troublesome and honoring. If nothing else Nara's were smart, and she was no exception.

He looked upon his cousin, her taijustu was a hundred time better than his at this age. He had made sure of it. He watched as she went at Haruka. Landing the kick perfectly. Unfortunately, she tripped and landed face first due to the bright teal kimono she insisted on wearing. The front of it had been cut short, to leave her legs exposed, but the back she had left long and flowing. This often caused it to wrap itself around one of her leg's whenever she put her all into a fight. This outfit made her stand out even more when she was sparing with Haruka, who's outfit consisted of a white, low cut blouse and a pair of basic black Shinobi pants.

Haruka Maki, on the other hand was a completely different type of genin then his cousin. She came from a clan that lived outside of the protective walls of Konoha, in the forest which surrounded it. Her clan, much like their affinity element wind, could not stand to be controlled. In turn for the privilege of freedom afforded to her clan, they became Konoha's first line of defense, and protected it from outside the gates.

With her bright red hair and deep brown eyes, she too, bared her clans resemblance, and at a young age, she was taught never to hold bonds with anyone other then them. Though her brute strength was a useful tool to her squad, her capability to live completely by the Shinobi rule of no emotion's, made it extremely difficult to get her to trust her teammates and himself.

The third, and currently missing part of his team was a young boy from a very prominent clan in the village. The Kuroswa clan was well known for it's outstanding ability in torture and interrogations. Their method's of bringing unbearable pain to their victim's without leaving a single mark, made them the perfect choice to be Konoha's leading interrogators. The clan name literally meant black swamp, and as the name implies, being asked for information by one of this clan, was like sinking into a black swamp. Slow, painful, and a mental breakdown. Due to the obvious qualities, most of them are offered Anbu positions within day's of passing the chunin exams.

Shika was given a rare privilege, when he became Nobu Kurosawa's Sensei. Most of the clans children are taught by special jonin, in team's that consist only of clan members. Lady Tsunade, asked Shika personally to take on Nobu. She said that he was the clan's pride and that his skill surpassed any other, but there was a problem. According to her, his personality was much like a young Naruto or Kiba. The boy jumped in to everything feet first. He never took time to think and was constantly getting himself in trouble. She wanted Shika to teach him patience and the importance of a strategic mind.

Now he had become Shika's hardest challenge. Patience to him, would never be a virtue. The child just didn't seem to have the ability to control his impulsive behavior. He was completely reckless. So it was no surprise to Shika when he heard the boy's screams from the wood's behind him. He watched as the girls rushed by him. He instead took his time to stand, and casually strolled toward the helpless voice.

There in a tree upside down, hung Nobu, screaming curses. The two young girls below him, pointing and laughing at the sight of the male counterpart swinging by his left leg. Shika, still at the pace of a turtle, walked up to them.

"Well Nobu, what you doin up there? You know you shouldn't be playing around at a time like this. We still have a lot of training to do before we leave for Suna tomorrow. I can't have you hangin around this tree all day!"

Miyako started giggling uncontrollably, and it seemed that it was taking all the will Haruka had, not to fall on the floor in her own laughter. Nobu on the other hand looked utterly pissed.

"Shut up you two. It's not funny. And you,...You did this huh? What the hell for? I swear when I get down I'm gonna..."

"There you go, jumping to conclusions again." Shika said, as he cut the rope holding up his troublesome genin. He watched him fall hitting the ground hard, a feeling of joy overwhelming him. The boy deserved it.

"Are you trying to tell me you didn't plant this trap for me?" Nobu asked.

"No, I planted it. I did it three nights ago, but you came to that conclusion without any proof! I, on the other hand, now have proof that you have not taken in a single word I have said to you over the last year!" Shika said, pointing one of his chakra knives toward the rope still tied to the leg of his young genin.

"Oh yeah," Nobu said with content in his voice, " What proof do you have?"

"First off you jumped to the conclusion that I did it. Secondly, you decided to threaten the only person who could get you out of your predicament. And last but not least, you were so quick to get here you didn't even notice the obvious trap laid before you. This was a test, and you failed miserably. You better be thankful to these girls. If it weren't for them, I think I'd just refrain from letting you go tomorrow, but I can't hinder their progress because your a stubborn ninny!"

"That's not fair, you know I'm ready! I can beat anyone, you know it!" Nobu replied confidently.

"Yes, very true, if your opponent gives you a chance to attack, but by the third exam, most of your rivals will know your name, they will know your clan, and they may be able to counteract you. In fact there is a chance you may have to fight Miyako, and everyone here knows she would beat you just by outsmarting you!"

Suddenly a voice came from behind him. "Do you always abuse your students Shikamaru?" With a smirk on his face, Rock offered his hand, helping Nobu to his feet.

"Actually Lee, only when the student has the patience of Naruto and the brain of a rock... No pun intended!" Shika added, noticing the confused look now coming across his old friends face.

"Well, since it seems we have all had our morning fun, let's get to work kids." Rock said, still wondering if Shika had meant anything by his last comment.

The training had gone extremely well. Thanks to Rock, Miyako was preforming hand to hand combat with a speed and accuracy Shika would never master and Haruka was defending herself better then she had before. Even Nobu seemed to have taken something in by the trick Shika had played on him earlier. In one of the three sparring match he had against Miyako, he had outsmarted her, though Shika was sure if it was as much him planning out his moves as it was just pure luck. It was time to quit for the evening and meet Kiba's team at their usual end of training hang out.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter nine**

_**Flirtation and Love**_

As Kiba looked at his three boy squad,he thought if he was ever to give a summary of them, he could describe them in just two words, "Flirtatious Troublemakers." At this very moment, all three boys were trying to impress a female barkeep, who was at least twelve years their senior.

The first of his team was Ryuunosake Wakahisa, who preferred to go by Ryuu. He was of average height and weight. His hair was blond and his eye's green. He wore a plain red shirt and a pair of black pants embossed with a red dragon directly above the cuff. Overall he was of average looks. Yet, his way with women was more then above average. He had a way with words, that just had girl's falling all over him. Right now, he was spilling some sort of old Japanese love poetry, entangled ever so subtlety with some of what Kiba swore was the writing of none other then Jiraiya, the Pervy Sage. It seemed to be working like a charm because the older womens attention for the moment was on him. Kiba wondered to himself if Ryuu could give him some lessons, he'd love to know how to work it like that.

Next to him was Ayumu Motou, he liked to be called Umu. His hair was long and light purple in color. He wore it tied back in the same fashion that Neji did. His eye's were pitch black. He wore a white shirt over a fishnet one and a pair of white shorts. He was a bit to pretty to be a boy, but Kiba guessed that really couldn't be helped. Currently the boy was trying to steal his friends spotlight by telling the girl that he had had a vision of her happily holding hands with a young man with black eye's. His Sensei doubted that. Yes the boy was known to predict such things and had visions which had come true, but he also liked to lie about what his gift showed him when it came to the ladies.

Last but not least was Hayato Himura, who was just fine going by his given name. Kiba had come to know over the past year, that he was considered the best looking in his group of genin. His black hair was neither to long or to short and spiked wildly around his head. His eye's were dark yellow, a trait that was passed down to him from his fathers side. He was about an inch taller then the other two, and like to show his muscular body off, wearing only a short sleeved fishnet top as a shirt. Along with this, he wore a pair of baggy dark blue ninja pants. Unlike his teammates who wore their headbands in the normal fashion, he hung his out of the front left side of his pants. On his face, across his eyes was one long and painful looking scare, which he had received just two years ago, while learning to summon falcons with his father.

As Kiba gazed upon them, he noticed that Hayato had taken the girls attention away from Ryuu with just such a trick. A falcon by the name of Yuriko was gliding around the restaurant while the woman watched it in awe. Unfortunately the shop owner didn't see the beauty in a wild bird swooping down on his customers and had now started swatting at it with a broom. This was Kiba's cue to get the boy's back in control.

"Hey you three, get your butts over here and sit down quietly, and Hayato put the bird up." Though the boys tried his patience, he couldn't help but be fond of them. The three of them had been best friends as long as they could remember, like there own little family, and they had accepted Kiba into it. Even giving him his own nickname.

"Big brother," Umu said, "I thought they would have been here by now. Can we just order the food?" This young boy, though skinny as a pole, had an a appetite larger even then Choji.

"Yes you can, they just arrived." Kiba replied, waving his hand to let Shika know where he and his team were sitting.

All three boy's had turned to look at Miyako. To them she was a vision all in herself, and the fact that both her and Haruka were very well developed for their ages, didn't hurt matters. As Shika and his team reached the table, all three boys pulled out their chairs, offering them to her. Instead of taking any of their seat's, she sat in the chair pulled out by Haruka, who in turn sat in the chair next to her, scooting it as close to her as possible. On top of the table the girls laid their hands on top of one another. This caused Kiba's entire team to stare longingly at them.

Ryuu opened his mouth to speak, but was cut of by Kiba. "You," he said pointing to Ryuu "Keep your pervy poetry to yourself. And you," he was now looking at Umu, "Whatever vision you maybe having is false." He now turned to Hayato, " And you just keep your bird to yourself."

"But Big Brother, I was just going to ask Shikamaru-Sensei a question!" Ryuu said sounding a bit hurt.

"Ok, then I guess you can speak."

"Shikamaru-Sensei, why is it that when any of us guy's even try to be friendly with Miyako, you threaten to skin us, but you let Haruka and her hang all over each other? You do know that's just encouraging us, right?"

"Well," Shika said, he had been waiting for this for a long time, "First off I don't trust any of you. Second she is my little cousin and I don't like the idea of you boy's goggling at her all night. Finally, and I think the best reason of all is, I was entrusted by my family to keep her from being fondled by boy's, physically or verbally. As you can see by looking at Haruka's ampule chest and well groomed hair, she is not a boy!"

Truth was Shika wasn't quite sure how to take Miyako and the other girls relationship. He had noticed that Haruka had bonded quite fondly with his little cousin as of late. The whole thing had started off as a harmless game that the two girl's and Nobu liked to play on Kiba's unsuspecting genin, but lately, they were holding hands when the boy's were nowhere around. Plus, there was that time he and Nobu walked in on them kissing in the tent. It hadn't really bothered him, but he had to use all his strength to pull the hypnotized Nobu from the tent without making a sound. He felt if that was what made the girls happy, so be it. At least he wouldn't have to worry about her getting pregnant and having to explain it to his family. That would be troublesome indeed.

They all left the restaurant shortly after finishing the meal. Haruka told Shika she would walk Miyako home before returning to her own dwelling outside the gates. Shika nodded and headed out to take the rest of the boy's home. The first house they hit was Nobu's. Before letting him depart, Ryuu had a question to ask him.

"Hey Nobu, are the girl's really like that together, or is it just a game? Shikamaru-Sensei never answers when I ask him."

"Hate to break it to you, but yeah. They're always all over each other, kissing and groping. What went on in the restaurant tonight was mild. You should see them when they're not in public. Sorry but I don't think any of you have a chance!"

"Can I trade places with you," Hayato said, "You know we could just switch teams?"

"Not before I do!" Umu spited out, Ryuu said nothing, looking completely shell shocked.

"I don't think so boy's." Chimed in Shika, "As I said before, I don't trust you boy's in a public place, what makes you think I'd let you on a team with her?"

"Sorry guy's, you heard my Sensei. Guess I get to keep those beautiful images to myself. Goodnight all." And Nobu entered his house closing the door behind him.

Ryuu must have come out of his trance because he stomped away toward the next house yelling, "That is so not fair!"

Once all the boy's were safe at their homes, Kiba and Shika headed out to the park. Kiba had suggested it after dropping off Hayato. He sensed Shika could use a good friend right now. Plus he wanted to talk to him about the exams anyway.

Once at the park, Shika lied down on the grass, while Kiba stood next to a tree.

"So where are your mutts?"

"If you mean my dogs, I left them at home with my sister. You know Akamaru can't fit in the restaurant door anymore, and Kimika's hyper active ass, would never let us talk!"

"What so important that we need to talk about." Shika asked, inside hoping he wasn't what he thought it was. It was.

"Oh, I don't know, how about the fact that in two day's time we will be meeting up with your ex-girlfriend!"

"Thanks for reminding me, it's actually one day, Temari and her team have been assigned as our liaison. Guess I forgot to mention it. By the way, don't be so worried, like you said she is my ex, there shouldn't be a problem."

"Don't lie to me!" Kiba said, a little louder then he had meant. " This is the girl you spent half a year crying over. You still love her, you know it, and there in lies the problem."

"Did you forget, she dumped me, there isn't much I can do about that, is there?"

"You know," Kiba said "Sometimes you really can be stupid for a smart person. All of her requests have been fulfilled. You are now of age, you now have both trained teams that are entering the exams, not to mention, you are now sure she is who you want. I talked to Kankuro on my last visit, she misses you. So either you go to Suna tomorrow and fight to get her back...or I'm gonna take her from you!"

Shika stood up laughing. "Well I'm heading home, we have to leave early." He started walking to the gate. When he reached it, he turned back to Kiba."You know Kiba, Sometimes your really smart for a dumb person. Your right, I should at least try for her sake. I mean, I can't see a beauty like hers go to waste on a dweeb like you."

As he walked out of the gate he heard Kiba yell," Hey I'm not that big a dweeb!" and he headed home thinking of a strategy to get back his girl.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter ten**

_**Saying Goodbye**_

Nobu woke at a quarter past four. He had promised himself the night before, that today would be the day he was going to prove Shikamaru-Sensei wrong, today he would be on time. He quickly pulled on his burgundy shirt and matching pants. He then reached for his burgundy trench coat, branded with the clans black pyramid symbol. He went to the mirror and slicked his brown hair out of the way of his reddish brown eye's. He looked good, or at least he thought so. He grabbed for the black box in front of him.. Opening it, he pulled out a burgundy forehead protector, placing it over his right shoulder.

This headband had been made especially for him by his father as a gift for his graduation from the academy. Other then the abnormal color of the material, it also had two button hole cut into both ends. Quickly he slid the corresponding buttons on the front and back of his coat into these holes. He checked the clock, it had taken him fifteen minutes to get ready. He only had an hour left to get to the gates and meet up with the rest. Pulling on his coat, he ran out he the door.

He exited his house through a back door that opened into a beautiful garden full of lily's. He stopped and knelt down. Pulling out a kunai form his pouch, he cut off one pink and one white bloom from the nearest plants. Bringing them to his face, he took in as much of the scent as his lungs would let him. The smell engulfed him in some of his happiest memories, ones he hated to let go, but today there wasn't time for a second whiff, he had to hurry.

Any other day it would have taken him thirty minutes to reach the still dark cemetery, but this time he did it in twenty. He walked down the long pathway until he reached a pair of matching tomb stone's, one a bit smaller then the other. He sat down on the wet grass, taking a moment to read both of them. The first, and larger of the two, was carved with the name, Manami Kuroswa. Right under the name were the words 'Beautiful Wife and Loving Mother'. The small marker only had a name, Arata Kuroswa. Both bared the same date of death.

Slowly he placed the pink flower in front of the marker labeled Manami. The white one he then put on the other. He bowed his head in silence for a moment, then began to speak softly.

"Ok, so I thought I'd let you both know I won't be back to visit for a while. I'm going to Suna today. Shikamaru-Sensei entered my squad into the exam and it's being held there. So, maybe I'll come back to you a chunin."

He now looked toward the larger grave. "Hey Mom, you don't know how much I wish you were here right now. There is this girl I like, but I don't even think she realizes how much she means to me. I've tried talking to her, but the word's just get stuck in my throat. Plus, every other guy I know is trying to be with her. I really could use your advice right now."

"You know what she'd tell you, don't you?" A voice said from behind him. Nobu turned around to see his father.

"How long have you been standing there?" He asked his father.

"Long enough to know you feel bad about leaving and that you have your first crush." His father replied, then he continued.

"Don't worry about leaving her, she loved you, and nothing would stop her from being there for such an important day. Not even death!" He walked up to the graves and placed his hand on Nobu's shoulder.

"And the issue with the girl. She would tell you to let her know. You are handsome and strong, but you still have your weaknesses, and all of that is what attracts a girl. If you tell her how you feel and she replies negatively, she's just not the right girl. Now don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Yeah, I guess your right. Well, I'll see you all soon." And he ran off for the village gates.

"I can't believe my eye's!" Shouted Shika as Nobu approached. "Your here before the rest of the team!"

Nobu looked around, Kiba and his team where there, but neither of the girls were anywhere to be seen.

"Cool, I am! Guess you should give me some kind of reward huh?" He said, putting his hand out to his Sensei.

"How about you just be happy with my approval and shock?" Shika asked.

"And I'll add that to mine!" Kiba chimed in.

"I could say something real smart right now, but I think I'll just take what I can get." He said smiling. "So where are the girls?"

Suddenly he felt hands on his shoulders, "BOO!" He jumped. He turned his head and felt the warmth of embarrassment flush over his face.

"Good going," He thought to himself, "If you didn't seem like a complete wuss to her before, you sure do now!" But the feeling left as Miyako ran toward Kiba.

"Wow, that was smooth." Haruka said, smirking as she walked by him.

"Kiba-Sensei can I hold Kimika while we walk?" Miyako had become quite close to both of Kiba's dogs in the last year.

"Of course you can, but you two girl's won't be walking, you'll be riding on Akamaru's back during our trip."

"Yeah!" Miyako shrilled, but Kiba's three boy's all gave him nasty looks.

"Why do the girls get to ride the big dog?" Ryuu asked in protest. "I thought you were for the equality of gender and all that nonsense, then you go pull a stunt like this!"

"First off, it was my idea." Shika responded. "But it has nothing to do with their gender, it's a strategic move."

"Yeah, you nit wits." Nobu pipped in. "Miyako is our only medical ninja, placing her where it's safe, is just smart. Meanwhile Haruka's jutsu is long range, being on Akamaru's back gives her a preexisting distance. Even a child could have figured that out!" He then walked over and began helping his teammates onto the dogs back.

"Do you realize, that you just figured out my reasoning without even a single hint?" Shika asked Nobu.

"Lets just say, I took some of what you said yesterday to heart, and leave it at that." Nobu replied.

"I'm not sure I can." Laughed Shika, "I think I'm gonna have a heart attack. First, you get here on time, then you figure out my planning, what's next? I mean, if you come up with your own strategy, I may just die of shock!"

"Ha,ha. Very funny. You should have been a comedian instead of a Shinobi." Nobu sneered back at him.

"Well seems were all ready," Kiba broke in, "Shall we go?"

"Yeah, I think we better." Shika replied.

As they walked away from their village, Kiba's team had decided to take to song.

"Here we go off to a far away land

It's hot and nasty and full of sand

We'll pass the chunin, and it will be grand,

Cause we'll kick their asses, just like we planned!"

About the tenth time through, their song had become a bit obnoxious, so Shika decided to try and deter them form singing it any more.

"You know boy's, you really should stop singing that. There maybe other teams from opposing villages out here with us. We don't want to show that Konoha genin carry such bad manners, and your swearing isn't helping."

"You know what?" Nobu said, "Your right! Hey guy's try this instead." And he stared in.

"Her we go off to a far away land

It's hot and nasty and full of sand

We'll pass the chunin, and it will be grand,

Cause we'll kick their butts, just like we planned!"

Soon all the boy's joined in once again, now louder then before. Shika shook his head.

"Thanks Nobu, you really are a big help."

"Your welcome. Oh and how did I do on my little plan to get you back? Maybe next time be careful what you wish for, it may come true! But don't die on me K?."


	11. Chapter 11

_**Chapter Eleven**___

_**Bumpy Reunion**_

Temari and her squad had been walking for close to six hours. It had been dead quite the whole time. No ambushes, no animals rustling around in the near by woods, in fact the girls hadn't even said more than two words since they left the gates of Suna. It was as if the whole world had decided to give her the time to think on what she needed to do. Problem was, she found it quite ominous.

The last time she could remember a period in her life this quiet, was prior to Gaara's birth. She had to admit, in the long run it had been a blessing, but for the first thirteen years, it had been complete hell. Now once again, it seemed as if the world had shut up for her, and she could only hope it wasn't a repeat of the past.

Her stomach lurched, as her thought's turned to Shikamaru. She still wasn't sure how she was supposed to react upon seeing him again. Honestly, she just wanted to run and jump into his strong, warm arms. To feel him hold her, like they did when they were still kids, but she didn't know how he would feel about that. She had told herself over and over again, that he hated her for denying his proposal, so she doubted he would be very accepting of her. Plus, there was the small matter of what Gaara would say if she was to get back with him.

Temari's thoughts were interrupted by Mia's voice. " We are here, Temari-Sensei."

"So we are," Temari replied, looking up from the ground. " Guess, we had better set up camp, we won't make it back before night fall." The girls saying nothing in response, went to unpacking their tents.

"Big brother, are we there yet?" Umu asked, "I'm starving!"

"Ten more minutes, Umu, I'm sure you'll live that long." Replied Kiba, with annoyance in his voice.

Though Shika was thankful the boy's had become bored with their song thirty minutes into the voyage, they had become just as irritating in the last hour. Each of Kiba's genin had decided to take turns asking if they were close yet. Shika just didn't know how Kiba dealt with them. Other then Nobu's small part in singing, his own squad had been very peaceful.

The girls were still perched atop of Akamaru's back. Miyako, clinging to Kimika while Haruka played with her hair. Nobu had taken to walking close to Akamaru, as if to protect the girls from some unknown threat. Shika had noticed, that on more then one occasion, Nobu had reached down to pluck a flower or two, handing them up to Haruka, who had been placing them in Miyako's hair. Something was very reassuring about this. His team worked, as a team, even when not in battle. This was a good sign that they would pass the first two tests of the chunin exams with flying colors.

"Hey bud, are you ready for this?" Kiba asked him as they approached the clearing.

"Well, I hope so, cause it's kinda a long way back home." Shika replied, chuckling a little to hide the anxiety in his voice.

Temari and the girls jumped into a fighting stance, as the heard the trees to the left of them rustle. They stared intently, lowering their guard once Kiba came into view. He was followed by three young boy's, Akamaru, who was being rode upon by two young girls, and another boy of the same age, who was keeping a close eye on the girls, but no Shikamaru.

"Where's Shika ran off to? Was he afraid I might bite his face off? Did he run back home to his mommy?" Temari said, sounding all but a little bit mad.

"No," Kiba replied bluntly, " He's out patrolling the area. You know him, he wants to know all the nooks and crannies, seems it looks like we'll be staying here tonight."

"Ya," Temari said, " I know he's a laze, and this is just a way for him to put off seeing me. Anyways maybe introductions are in order?"

"Oh, right." Kiba said stunned. "Girls get down here! Ok, Well this is my team. The blond one in red is Ryuu, this one right here with the lavender hair is Umu, and that one over there, trying to give the girl a helping hand and being shut down, once again, is Hayato. Then we have Shika's team.."

"Hey, I think I can handle my own teams introductions." Shika yelled, stepping into the clearing from the right. "Hey girls" He said as he passed by Temari's team. " This right here is Nobu Kuroswa, top of his class in transformation jutsu. This lovely young woman is Haruka Maki, from our boarder clan. She hold the record for speed in Konoha. And last but not least, is my beautiful cousin Miyako Nara. Top of her class in both stealth and tactical."

"Well, of course she is, she is your cousin after all!", Kiba said, " Oh, and by the way his team is cooler than mine." He finished, sounding a little irritated.

"I guess that means it's my turn, huh?" Temari, too, sounded a bit agitated. " These are, in order of age, Mia, Mui, and Kanon Tsukino. They are triplets,even though Kanon looks nothing like her sister's.

As I'm sure your Senseis' have told you, they are from the sound clan, but are not a part of sound village, and were prisoners of Orochimaru for years. So you can stop staring at Mia's tattoo, you little, burgundy, Shino imitation!"

"Yeah, stop staring at my sister, you nasty, little, red boy.", Mui piped in.

Nobu quickly looked away, turning red from embarrassment.

"Hey, you half nude bitch, don't go talking to my teammate that way." Haruka yelled, moving toward Mia, but Miyako caught her arm just in time.

"Ok kids," said Shika, casually, "get your tent set up and head to bed. It's late and we have a lot of walking to do in the morning. Girls in one tent, Nobu, you'll be bunking with one of Kiba's boy's"

"Cool," Umu said, "He's with me!" And they all headed to get their tents up.


End file.
